AIRBNB NEARS $10 BILLION VALUATION  | The couch-surfing website Airbnb was once selling cereal boxes with presidential candidates’ faces just to stay afloat. Now, the company is close to joining a rarefied group of start-ups: the 11-digit valuation club, Michael J. de la Merced writes in DealBook.
The company is said to be in advanced talks to raise more than $400 million in capital, which would give it a valuation of more than $10 billion and make it the latest technology start-up firm to gain a mind-boggling net worth. TPG Growth, the investment firm that already has a stake in the car-ride service Uber, is said to be leading the funding round. Other prospective investors include the Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price.
But not everything is rosy in paradise. With the rising success of Airbnb’s business model, which is shared by other start-ups like Uber, has also come increasing scrutiny from regulators concerned about safety, rental laws and tax collections. Still, investors are betting that Airbnb will continue to show enormous growth. Indeed, Mr. de la Merced writes, “Should its latest efforts to raise capital succeed, it will carry a higher valuation than Wyndham Worldwide, whose market capitalization stands at $9.3 billion, or Hyatt, whose market value is $8.4 billion.â€
$80 MILLION FOR SIX WEEKS FOR CABLE CHIEF  | Robert D. Marcus took over as chief executive of Time Warner Cable less than two months before Comcast scooped up the company for $45 billion. Now, if the deal closes, he’s set to receive nearly $80 million in severance payment, amounting to more than $1 million a day for the six weeks he ran the company before agreeing to sell, David Gelles writes in DealBook.
So-called golden parachutes are nothing new in the employment contracts for public company executives. Though Mr. Marcus is in line to receive a huge sum, his payout will not be anywhere close to the largest such exit packages of all time, Mr. Gelles writes. In fact, dozens of executives have received severance payments larger than $150 million. But the payout to Mr. Marcus is nevertheless remarkable because he was chief executive for such a short time, whereas many who have collected larger payments had been at their companies for years.
Mr. Gelles writes: “The extraordinarily large exit package is just one more example of corporate America rewarding executives with outsize sums for sometimes minimal amounts of work, and it comes despite the growing debate over income inequality in America.â€
STRONG RESULTS FOR BANKS IN FED STRESS TEST  | Nearly all of the nation’s largest banks breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when the Federal Reserve released the results of its latest stress test of the United States financial system. Out of the 30 banks under review, only one â€" Zions Bancorp â€" failed to meet the minimum capital ratio, called the Tier 1 Capital Ratio, indicating how far the banking system has come since the financial crisis of 2008, Michael Corkery writes in DealBook.
The results pave the way for the healthiest banks to begin buying back shares and increasing their dividends, but could also fuel the debate about whether banks should be loosening the reins on credit so more consumers and business can obtain loans, Mr. Corkery writes. The Fed’s results came by calculating potential bank losses on loans and other securities in a “severely adverse scenario†â€" a hypothetical world of high unemployment, market turmoil and a collapse of the banks’ major trading partners.
ON THE AGENDA  | Two region Federal Reserve presidents speak in Washington â€" James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis Fed, gives a speech on G.D.P. at 11:45 a.m. and Narayana Kocherlakota, the president of the Minneapolis Fed, takes the mike at 4:30 p.m. Jeremy C. Stein, a Fed governor, takes the stage at 6:30 p.m. in Washington. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission receives an update on efforts to reinstate its Waste Confidence policy. David M. Rubenstein, the co-founder of the Carlyle Group, is on CNBC at 7:40 a.m.
STRAUSS-KAHN IS SEEKING TO START A HEDGE FUND  | Dominique Strauss-Kahn was once a world policy maker. Now, Mr. Strauss-Kahn â€" a former International Monetary Fund chief and French presidential hopeful who fell from grace in 2011 amid highly publicized accusations of sexual assault â€" is hoping to raise $2 billion for a new hedge fund, David Jolly writes in DealBook. The fund, known as the DSK Global Investment Fund, represents his first effort to actively manage money on a large scale and is aimed at institutional investors and high net worth individuals around the world.
Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s latest move prompted quite a few snide remarks, but at least one person was confident in its future success. Mohamad Zeidan, chief operating officer of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s investment firm, said Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s abilities “should speak for themselves,†adding that the fund “is as plain vanilla as it gets,†with no plans to employ leverage or complicated derivatives.
BUFFETT CAN REST EASY  | It looks as if Warren E. Buffett, who insured a $1 billion prize for the perfect N.C.A.A. men’s tournament bracket, knew what he was doing after all. Given the number of upsets on Thursday (thanks, Dayton), there’s already little chance anyone will win.
Tycoon Sells Stake in Retail Arm, Forgoing I.P.O. Â |Â The billionaire Li Ka-shing has agreed to sell a stake of A.S. Watson, which has a global network of more than 10,000 stores, to Temasek in Singapore for $5.7 billion.
DealBook »
Not Giving Up, Bouygues Raises Bid for Vivendi’s Mobile Unit  | The owner of France’s third-largest mobile operator increased its bid despite Vivendi’s decision to enter an exclusive negotiating period with Altice. Bouygues said it raised its bid to 13.15 billion euros, or about $18.12 billion.
DealBook »
Men’s Wearhouse Deal Alters Retail Landscape  | The newly combined Men’s Wearhouse/Jos. A. Bank will trail only Macy’s, Kohl’s and J. C. Penney for volume in men’s wear, The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Nestlé Considering Deal for Danone’s Medical Nutrition  | The Swiss food giant Nestlé is among four groups that have expressed interest in acquiring the Medical Nutrition unit of France’s Danone, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Credit Suisse Hires Senior Power Banker From RBC Capital Markets  | Credit Suisse has hired Frank Napolitano as its new head of its power and renewables investment banking group, poaching him from RBC Capital Markets, the firm announced in an internal memorandum on Thursday.
DealBook »
Britain Fines Former Credit Suisse Trader Over Bond Manipulation  | The Financial Conduct Authority says the trader, Mark Stevenson, tried to sell British government bonds back to the Bank of England for an artificially high price.
DealBook »
Regulator Estimates Volcker Rule Will Cost Banks Billions  | The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the Volcker Rule will cost American banks as much as $4.3 billion to implement as it forces them to sell restricted investments at a loss, Bloomberg News writes.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Golden Gate Buys Stake in Parent of Ann Taylor  | Golden Gate, the private equity firm, disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it had purchased a roughly 9.5 percent stake in Ann Inc., with the aim of bolstering the retailer’s stock price.
DealBook »
President of Apollo Global to Step Down  | Marc Spilker, 49, who joined Apollo Global Management in December 2010, helped Leon D. Black’s company set up the systems it would need as a publicly traded entity.
DealBook »
Carlyle’s Commodity Unit Starts Trading New Fund  | Vermillion, the commodity arm of the private equity firm Carlyle Group, began trading a new gold and base metals fund this month as it seeks to rebuild market share after losing more than half of its capital, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
REUTERS
Hedge Fund Uses Hitler Parody in Campaign Against Ocwen Chairman  | Glaucus Research, a little-known hedge fund in California, has started an attack on the billionaire William C. Erbey, the chairman of Ocwen Financial, and to publicize its efforts, it has posted a video based on the widely parodied German film “Downfall.â€
DealBook »
Top SAC Portfolio Manager to Start Hedge Fund  | Gabriel Plotkin, a portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen’s hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, is planning to start his own hedge fund, The Wall Street Journal writes, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Corporate Lies Are Increasingly Immune to Investor Complaints  | A recent court ruling in Germany dismissing a suit filed by a group of hedge funds, along with a pending case before the United States Supreme Court, could make it harder for investors to recoup damages tied to company fraud, Floyd Norris writes in the High & Low Finance column.
NEW YORK TIMES
TPG Lending Unit Raises $112 Million in I.P.O. Â |Â TPG Specialty Lending, an arm of the private equity firm TPG Capital that provides loans, has raised $112 million in an initial public offering, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
Dropbox Bolstering Enterprise Business  | Ross Piper, the vice president for enterprise strategy at Dropbox, is focusing on building Dropbox’s enterprise business, the latest development in what is widely thought to be a push toward an initial public offering, ReCode writes.
RECODE
Borderfree Prices I.P.O. at Top of Range  | The e-commerce technology company Borderfree, which helps American retailers and brands expand internationally, priced its initial public offering at $16 a share, giving the company an equity valuation of about $488 million, Reuters writes.
REUTERS
Mt. Gox Finds 200,000 Missing Bitcoins  | The Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox â€" which filed for bankruptcy protection last month after losing 750,000 of its customers’ Bitcoin holdings and more than 100,000 of its own coins â€" said it has uncovered 200,000 units of the virtual currency in an old digital file known as a wallet, The Financial Times writes.
FINANCIAL TIMES
WeChat Valuation Is Still Just a Hunch  | While the parent of WeChat has disclosed some information about the messaging and social media service, its true valuation is still largely a matter of speculation, writes Robyn Mak of Reuters Breakingviews.
DealBook »
Emergence Capital Bets on Google Glass Apps  | Emergence Capital and DCM recently led a $3.2 million funding round for Augmedix, a company that creates applications for Google Glass, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Pleying Valued at $20 Million After Funding Round  | Pleying, a start-up doing business as Pley that allows people to rent Legos for a monthly fee, has raised $6.75 million in funding, valuing it at $20 million, The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Former Aide to S.E.C. Leaders Joins Consulting Firm  | Myron Marlin, a former top aide to the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has joined FTI Consulting, a prominent firm in Washington.
DealBook »
Trial Lawyer Nominated to Lead Delaware Chancery Court  | Andre G. Bouchard, who has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in corporate battles, was nominated on Thursday to lead Delaware’s Chancery Court, the nation’s leading court for business disputes.
DealBook »
Former Head of Piper Jaffray Asset Management Switches to Consulting Role  | Brien M. O’Brien, who ran the asset manager Advisory Research, which Piper Jaffray purchased in 2010, will now serve as a consultant to that unit, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
DealBook »
European Officials Reach Deal on Failed-Bank System  | The agreement, subject to approval by the European Parliament and national governments, would be a big step toward a banking union in the euro zone, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Speculation Intensifies Over New York Senator’s Next Move  | Many in New York and Washington are wondering whether Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York will seek the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee next Congress, Politico reports.
POLITICO
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: March 21, 2014
An earlier version of this article misidentified the value of Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner Cable. The deal is worth $45 billion, not $45 million.
